Math Anxiety Questionnaire: Similar Latent Structure in Brazilian and German School Children

Wood, Guilherme; Pinheiro‐Chagas, Pedro; Júlio-Costa, Annelise; Micheli, Leticia; Krinzinger, Helga; Kaufmann, Liane; Willmes, Klaus; Haase, Vítor Geraldi

doi:10.1155/2012/610192

Cited by 40 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The Mathematics Attitude and Anxiety Questionnaire (Thomas and Dowker, 2000) has not been validated in its English form. Although validations of German and Brazilian translations do exist, these do not span the full age range used in the current study (Wood et al, 2012). Therefore, whilst testing convergent validity against another scale would be optimal, the fact that no MA measure has been psychometrically tested for use from age 8 to 13 would make doing so practically impossible.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Modified Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale: A Valid and Reliable Instrument for Use with Children

et al. 2017

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Mathematics anxiety (MA) can be observed in children from primary school age into the teenage years and adulthood, but many MA rating scales are only suitable for use with adults or older adolescents. We have adapted one such rating scale, the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS), to be used with British children aged 8–13. In this study, we assess the scale's reliability, factor structure, and divergent validity. The modified AMAS (mAMAS) was administered to a very large (n = 1746) cohort of British children and adolescents. This large sample size meant that as well as conducting confirmatory factor analysis on the scale itself, we were also able to split the sample to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of items from the mAMAS alongside items from child test anxiety and general anxiety rating scales. Factor analysis of the mAMAS confirmed that it has the same underlying factor structure as the original AMAS, with subscales measuring anxiety about Learning and Evaluation in math. Furthermore, both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the mAMAS alongside scales measuring test anxiety and general anxiety showed that mAMAS items cluster onto one factor (perceived to represent MA). The mAMAS provides a valid and reliable scale for measuring MA in children and adolescents, from a younger age than is possible with the original AMAS. Results from this study also suggest that MA is truly a unique construct, separate from both test anxiety and general anxiety, even in childhood.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Modified Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale: A Valid and Reliable Instrument for Use with Children

et al. 2017

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“…Our results on the different kinds of relationships between math anxiety and arithmetic fluency support the assumption that varying operationalizations of math anxiety might explain the contradictory results in previous math anxiety research among primary school children (Dowker et al ., ; Haase et al ., ; Krinzinger et al ., , ; Vukovic et al ., ; Wood et al ., ; Wu et al ., , ). In our study, anxiety about failure in mathematics was close to normally distributed among all age groups.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, among primary school children, the relationship between math anxiety and math performance remains unclear. The findings from previous studies have been contradictory, with some studies suggesting that primary school children's math anxiety is not related to performance (Dowker et al ., ; Haase et al ., ; Krinzinger et al ., , ; Thomas & Dowker, ; Wood et al ., ), while others suggest that math anxiety is negatively correlated with performance even at that age (Harari et al ., ; Jameson, ; Vukovic, Kieffer, Bailey, & Harari, ; Wu et al ., , ).…”

Section: Math Anxiety and Its Relationship To Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills among primary school children

Sorvo

Koponen

Viholainen

et al. 2017

Brit J of Edu Psychol

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Background Children have been found to report and demonstrate math anxiety as early as the first grade. However, previous results concerning the relationship between math anxiety and performance are contradictory, with some studies establishing a correlation between them while others do not. These contradictory results might be related to varying operationalizations of math anxiety. Aims In this study, we aimed to examine the prevalence of math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills in primary school children, with explicit focus on two aspects of math anxiety: anxiety about failure in mathematics and anxiety in math‐related situations. Sample The participants comprised 1,327 children at grades 2–5. Methods Math anxiety was assessed using six items, and basic arithmetic skills were assessed using three assessment tasks. Results Around one‐third of the participants reported anxiety about being unable to do math, one‐fifth about having to answer teachers’ questions, and one tenth about having to do math. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that anxiety about math‐related situations and anxiety about failure in mathematics are separable aspects of math anxiety. Structural equation modelling suggested that anxiety about math‐related situations was more strongly associated with arithmetic fluency than anxiety about failure. Anxiety about math‐related situations was most common among second graders and least common among fifth graders. Conclusions As math anxiety, particularly about math‐related situations, was related to arithmetic fluency even as early as the second grade, children's negative feelings and math anxiety should be identified and addressed from the early primary school years.

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“…Reliability coefficients (Cronbach's a) for the TDE subtests are ≥ 0.87. Evidence of construct and criterion validity for the TDE with regard to numerical cognition and mathematical learning difficulties has been described in several previous publications by our research group (Costa et al, 2011;Ferreira et al, 2012;Haase, Júlio-Costa, Pinheiro-Chagas, Oliveira, Micheli, & Wood, 2012;Júlio-Costa et al, 2013;Moura et al, 2013;Wood et al, 2012). The children are instructed to work on the problems to the best of their ability without time limits.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Impaired acuity of the approximate number system in 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome.

Oliveira¹,

Santos²,

Vianna³

et al. 2014

Psychology & Neuroscience

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A magnitude comparison deficit has been frequently observed in velocardiofacial syndrome (Del22q11.2). We hypothesized that this deficit extends to impairments in the acuity of the approximate number system (ANS). Three groups of children aged 8-14 years were investigated: Del22q11.2 children (n = 12), low cognitive ability children (LCA; n = 12), and matched typically developing children (TD; n = 28). All children were assessed with a simple reaction time task and symbolic and nonsymbolic number comparison tasks. To estimate the acuity of the ANS, the Weber fraction (w) was calculated from the nonsymbolic comparison task. The Del22q11.2 group exhibited a significantly higher w compared with the other groups. Importantly, no significant differences were found in w between the TD and LCA groups. The performance pattern of the Del22q11.2 group was similar to the TD group in the symbolic comparison task, and both of these groups had better performance than the LCA group. The impairment of ANS acuity observed in individuals with Del22q11.2 cannot be explained by deficits in general processing speed because no significant group differences were found in the simple reaction time task. These results suggest that lower acuity of the ANS should be added to the behavioral phenotype of Del22q11.2. The absence of impaired ANS acuity in the LCA group is consistent with the hypothesis that number sense is a relatively specific and autonomous domain. Investigations of low ANS acuity in mathematics learning difficulties and Del22q11.2 should be intensified.

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Math Anxiety Questionnaire: Similar Latent Structure in Brazilian and German School Children

Cited by 40 publications

References 28 publications

The Modified Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale: A Valid and Reliable Instrument for Use with Children

The Modified Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale: A Valid and Reliable Instrument for Use with Children

Math anxiety and its relationship with basic arithmetic skills among primary school children

Impaired acuity of the approximate number system in 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome.

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